Soup Photography

Yes, I'm a little strange... But it's the little things in life that make you happy...

I've photographed soup should many times before, and to tell you the truth, it's not all that tough. You just want to light from behind and try not to add too much fill light. Watch the glare and use an overhead box for downward fill. No big deal... btw - there were no models in the final shot.

The tough part about this shot was the lighting I had to do for the damn pot! I thought about trying to take a picture of the lighting setup, but I didn't have a wide enough lens for my Nikon...

I used six sheets of 4x8' foamcore around the set. The entire set area was aroung 18' x 18'. It was huge! Chrome is a tough thing to shoot and it's something that is very subjective. Luckily for me, this was a brushed chrome, or the retouchers would of made more on this project than I did... So that's food photography for you... Take care until later!

Food photography lighting setup

I'm testing out uploading posts from my iPhone, so I can upload stuff from vacation.

Here are three samples of lighting setups from my last pizza shoot. This might give you some clues as to how it was done.

It looks like the photos show up smaller then normal, maybe I can change that in the future...

As far as the pizza photography lighting goes... You can see that it's much more complicated than most people think. I've made a small breakthrough with this last shoot. With my food photography lighting, I flagged off the main light from the pizza so I could see what the mirrors were doing. I've often thought about this but never took the time to do it. On this shoot, I did it and I really like the results. With all the lights on, it's hard to see what each mirror is doing, but when the subject off from the main light, and the light still sees the mirrors, I can see much better, what the mirrors are actually doing. I was very happy with the results of this shoot.

Now that I have the iphone capable of uploading images (remotely), I'll probably make a lot more posts. (hopefully ;+)








-- Post From My iPhone

What they don't teach in Photography school...

I've been a busy little bee, writing away, but it just hasn't been here... :+) Here are a couple of posts from my other web page that you might find interesting... They're more additions to "what they don't teach in photography school". It's more basic photography / professional photography career information. Hey! Anyone out there on facebook? I just rediscovered it after a few years. Back then, I thought it was only for kids, but now, I'm really enjoying it. If you haven't give it a try.

Well. I have to pack now for a two-day location job in Ohio. I'll post some pictures while I'm gone. In the mean time, check out the link above.

Ta-ta...

Food photography / self portrait

Here are some "behind the scenes" photos from Friday's shoot. I have some other stuff to share, but it will have to wait until next week. I would think that these are the best kinds of photos for people wanting to learn more about food photography...

Have a great weekend!



Hey! That's me in the back there!




Behind the scenes..

This is the shot we ended up with, without the goober behind the set.

Photography school - New articles

I’ve been busy as a bee writing. I’ve written so much that it’s too much to post here. Check out the following links if you’re interested…

What they don’t teach you in photography school (1-6)

Digital Food Photography tips (1-5)

Things they didn’t teach me in Photography School #1

What follows is a list of things that I’ve learned from experience after leaving photography school. The idea to create this list is not mine, but I wanted to start my own, thinking that it may prove useful to some of the people that visit here. If nothing else, it will help fill in the gaps when I have nothing else interesting to talk about. So I’ll make posts from time to time adding new things they didn’t teach me in photography school.

1. Success in professional photography is as much about marketing as it is about photography. When an Art Director or a VP or Marketing finds that they need the services of a professional photographer, they usually reach back into their memory and try to figure out which photographer they should decide to call. They usually do this based on the special needs of the project verses the particular talents the individual photographer. Some projects are very complicated or extremely important and require a very specific style. Other projects are less important; there maybe a smaller budget, or the shots my not require a particular style. Either way, the photography buyer make’s their decision based on all kinds of information. The key point here is the word “information”. If the photography buyer doesn’t have your information, or doesn’t know who you are or what you do well, then the chance of you getting the job is very small.

Marketing is about giving potential buyers information. They need to know what you do, what your style is, what your price range is, what you capabilities are, how difficult you are to work with, how dependable you are, what things you prefer to shoot, what you’ve shot in the past, and a whole lot more. If they don’t have this information, then it’s a whole lot harder for them to make a decision about selecting you for their project, and if they don’t know you at all, then you’re out of luck. They have to know about you to think about hiring you…

Even if you aren’t a great photographer, there are still projects out there that you would be perfect for, but unless the potential client knows about you, you’ll never get the job.

People Photography

I shoot a lot of food photography, and I really like it, but I have to admit that variety is truly the spice of life. If all I show as food, photography wouldn’t be as much fun as it is. I also like to photograph people. Shooting for colleges is fun because you get to go to new places and interact with the future of America. Here are some images that I like, that I’ve done for a college not that long ago.

What’s fun for me about this type of photography is that it’s very different than what I usually do. With food photography, I usually “create” the photo and in school photography, I need to “find” the photo. Usually, there’s an idea that I’m assigned to illustrate or a department that I’m attempting to represent, but besides being pointed in a direction, there’s a lot of freedom in what ends up in front of my camera. I think what makes me good / different, is that I tent to find and enhance, rather than just capture. I'm used to abusing the "truth in advertising" rule... :+)